About Shannon....

Shannon MacLean has always been the happiest when working with children and youth. They remind her to laugh every day, that you CAN make the world a better place and to embrace each moment in life.

Shannon is a PK (preachers kid) and lived in several locations across NS as a child, although she calls North Sydney home. She graduated from Mount Allison with a BSc in Bio-Psychology and then volunteered at l’Arche Cape Breton for the greater part of a year. Sharing life with people who have intellectual disabilities made Shannon realize that some of the best lessons in life are not learned in a classroom and some of the greatest teachers cannot be measured by their IQ.

For the next 2 years, Bolivia was Shannon’s next home. She worked in orphanages and began a program at a prison (for the children who live there with their parents). Experiencing such hope, joy and celebration combined with such hardship and poverty changed her life. It was in Bolivia that Shannon and Julia became a family.

Shannon and Julia lived in the USA and Canada and their family grew with the additions of Grace and Jack. Being Mum to her three children is the greatest gift Shannon could ever receive. They decided it was time to lay down roots and so they settled in Dartmouth to be closer to their family. Since 2003 Shannon has worked with youth and children in the United Church. First at Stairs Memorial, then at Edgewood-Oxford United and now she is very pleased to be the youth minister at Woodlawn United Church. She is also pursuing her Masters of Divinity at the Atlantic School of Theology part time. Every day brings a new challenge and new promise.

In her spare time, Shannon likes to cook (she makes a MEAN maple, curry chicken penne), entertain (at least she thinks she is funny), and being creative! Other interesting facts: Shannon has swam with pink dolphins, LOVES Harry Potter, had her photo taken with several famous people and will never make you read her mind.